Everything is starting to feel more peaceful at home now that Sam’s first birthday is behind us. I think the fact that the weather’s been so sunny since Thursday is probably helping. Nevertheless, this was an important milestone, and the chaotic pain and grief is starting to settle into something more steady and manageable. Granted, this whole grieving process has had so many ups and downs without any logic to it … I could very well face some more difficult times again in the future. But for now, I feel okay.

I’m back to putting some energy into our interior. Next on my list: to hang more frames on the walls. My “Sowing the seeds of love” frame by Thomas Barbey is already in place. I don’t know why I love this picture so much. And I can guarantee you I DID NOT pay anything near the prices listed on the artist’s website. Holy crap! I got it at a craft store in Greensboro, North Carolina about 10 years ago for less than $50, if I remember well. Looks like I got a pretty good deal back then. Now I was thinking “Blown Away” would go nicely together with “Sowing the seeds of love“, so I would have both Paris and London. But there’s no way I could afford it. :-( I didn’t even check out shipping to Belgium. I bet it would double the total. Oh well!

Meanwhile, Jules the cat is still the king of his imaginary castle …

We still haven’t figured out how he gets up there. He always seems to do it when we’re not looking!

Anyway, September is almost over. It’s been bittersweet. It also made me realize how traumatic it’s been, as I can recall absolutely everything I was doing on most days of this month last year. It’s going to take many years before it all starts to fade, I think. I’m so thankful for the flowers and little keepsakes that people put on Sam’s grave this week. I didn’t think anyone was even going to remember his birthday. (my faith in people clearly needs to go up a notch).

And the sweet card I received from one of my best friends is still standing on the piano in our living room. It will all eventually be neatly stored into Sam’s box. Nothing gets thrown away. ♥

Only a few more days to go and our new interior will be finished! Meanwhile, we enjoyed our first TV evening in our new living room yesterday. We’re still missing curtains and a couple of mirrors on the walls, but we’re getting there.

Jules the cat inspected everything and seemed quite disappointed about not being able to dig his nails into the old wall paper lol The bare walls aren’t doing it for him; which is a good thing! To be honest, the wallpaper was kind of turning into a nightmare with him. So wallpaper shall be banned from the entire house for the rest of eternity.

He also had a blast admiring himself in the mirror that I sanded and prepped to be painted.

I know I haven’t posted in a while. We’ve been soooo busy! We had initially planned to simply remove the wallpaper in the living area and paint the walls white. But then that little project somehow turned into a whole house makeover. We started rearranging our furniture differently, I sanded and painted some of it, we ditched some, recycled some … Anyway, it’s not finished yet, but it will be a whole different home by the time we’re done.

Meanwhile, I’m in desperate need of a cosmetic intervention. I’m so tired! We’re almost there though. I can’t wait to show pictures once it’s finished. If it turns out the way that it looks in my head, it’s going to look amazing.

Tested and approved by Jules the cat. 👍

Everything still looks messy right now. I’m hoping we can get this finished within a week. We’re dead tired, but it’s so worth it!

There’s a massive heatwave going on here in Europe right now. 🌞 🔥 So since it’s too hot to bother with a proper hairstyle, this is how I shamelessly walk around at the moment:

We did lounge in the yard a bit on Tuesday, and even saw our little squirrel friend. 🌳 So cute! ❤️

You know it’s bad when #julesthecat is too tired to destroy the house.

Wolfie has been dealing surprisingly well. Although he does refuse to go outside since yesterday. I think he’s smart enough to know better! Good thing he’s trained to use his litter box. We have some hedgehogs and squirrels and God knows what else roaming around in the yard, so I put several water bowls out for them.

This is my current situation:

The temperature is supposed to climb up to 36°C later this afternoon. I’m trying really hard not to complain after whining for months that the climate was too cold here lol 😓